The Lord- Our Advocate for Change

Introduction

Early on the morning of 6 June 1944 as the troops prepared to cross the English Channel for the D-Day invasion, there were probably two main thoughts on the minds of most of the people. 1) This isn’t going to be easy, and 2) we will be victorious.

The Allied invasion force was comprised of 3 million men, 13,000 aircraft, 1,200 warships, 2,700 merchant ships, and 2,500 landing craft. Nobody in their right mind would commit such a sizeable force to certain suicide, nor would they commit such a force without a reasonable expectation of victory.

The crushing weight of an overwhelming force of men and material began to arrive in Normandy at fifteen minutes after midnight when paratroopers jumped in behind enemy lines. Then, just before dawn the Allied ships began to bomb the French coast.

At daybreak 135,000 Allied troops came forward like a tidal surge onto Normandy’s shore, filling five landing sites. During the next five days, the forces moved forward in all sectors despite the fierce resistance of the enemy. Finally, on June 11th, the five landing groups met up and Operation Overlord proceeded as planned.

We have been studying these last two weeks from the book of Exodus. We have looked corporately at the people of Israel that will be birthed out of slavery to write a new chapter in their lives as a people that trusts and follows Yahweh. Furthermore, we have looked at the life of Moses, one that was drawn out of the Nile, one that God drew out to formulate His plan, and that plan was to be lived out through a man named Moses and God’s chosen people, the Israelites.

Metaphorically, the story reminds us of our own journey of leaving a former life, a life enslaved in sin and the journey of the great turn around as God begins to have His impact on our very soul and being.

There are those testimonies of people that came into a saving knowledge of Christ and when they repented they walked the straight and narrow from that point onward.

The story of the Exodus is a story that for many, the great turn around is a process. There is the fact that one does those things they should for a period, but Satan and the old life style allures and there are setbacks along the way. But aren’t you glad that when that does happen, God is waiting with open arms to receive you from going astray?

The name Exodus means “exit” or “departure” or “going out from”. We follow in the Exodus a nation that is being delivered from a former life of slavery and watching the transition of a new birth family experiencing birth pains in the new life following God. We see Israel exercise the terrible twos and out and out defiance at times in struggling to accept the new life of trusting God to provide for their every need.

The thread of focus in our studies of Exodus is the fact that God is a God of change. He heard Israel’s cries, He undoubtedly heard Moses despair in his own personal life. Aren’t you glad we serve a God that is compassionate and hurts when we hurt? And when we come to that crisis of belief that God alone is the only one that can turn your ship around, He is there with open arms to receive you.

Exodus 3:16-22

Exodus 3:16–22 NKJV

16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; 17 and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ 18 Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. 22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Prayer

Message

At this point, Moses had met God at the Burning Bush. God had heard the cries of His people and He was ready to bring about change in the life of Israel and the life of Moses. Moses encountered God in the burning bush. We call that a theophany. We see visually in this story what happens when the Holy Spirit works in your life and plants a seed of thought for a change he wants to bring about in your life and in the life of this church.

Last Wednesday night was the second time of focus as we as a body of believers began praying over several ministry strategies this spring to set out as a church to lead people to Christ. The Lord will make it clear to us which direction we should go and He will bring about a synergy of direction that He wants us to lead out in.

God Provides His Advocates for Change VV. 16-18

Exodus 3:16-18 “16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; 17 and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ 18 Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’”

God called Moses to find advocates for the cause. Find elders and get the elders on board to what I am wanting to do through you and the people of Israel. God told Moses,

“Go and gather the elders”

God was telling Moses that the leadership needs to be behind what I have called you to do. They need to gather

Gather-asaph which means to go gather, to gather in, you need to be one in mind, soul and body. There must be unity among the people to accomplish what I have called you to accomplish.

As this church knows well the ending of the Exodus and all points in between, we know there were times they were not on the same band wagon and did not follow as they should and the problems and chaos that came about. We know the times they became impatient over water, manna, quail, and the making of the Golden calf. These were dark periods when the leadership was not one and they were not following the voice of God.

Vision is caught by those that are engaged and a part of what God is doing.

Ill. Super Bowl-Kansas City Chiefs Vs. Philadephia Eagles

-pulled for Jalen Hurts and Devonte Smith-Alabama graduates.

Jalen on his own played an excellent game, but it takes a team.

For God to do a great work in the days ahead as we seek vision for leading the lost for Christ, God calls for us to be assembled. Be here to understand the vision, to understand the hurdles, to know where we may have to prepare harder, to understand why certain monies may need to be spent to accomplish the task.

Furthermore, we must realize in the individual battles we face in life that God never intended for you to go it alone. God has placed advocates in your life to encourage, to hold you accountable to join with you in your journey. Allow those people to gather with you. Allow them to fellowship, to pray with you, to have Bible study with and to encourage. A great advocate God has provided is His church.

Also, if you are one that God has called you to be an advocate in the life of another, do not let them down. Stay engaged. Keep contact, pray for, ride by, visit, love on and let them know you are their advocate. Praise them in their victories and encourage them through their failures.

Has God called you to be an advocate in the life of another? If you are a member of this church, God has called you to be His advocate. There is no greater blessing you could receive that to see that God would use you to bring great change in the life of another for Christ.

Notice that God called the leadership to be gathered, to be on board, but to be of one mind. God gave the plan, the message of execution, and the words to say to implement the plan.

God told Moses to say to the elders of the church, the same God of our forefathers is the God that spoke to me. I am the God that has led the people of Mt Zion Baptist for the last 150 years and I am the God that leads you today.

I verse 17, God acknowledged His promise that went all the way back to the time of Abraham in Genesis 15: 13-21.

Genesis 15:13-21 “13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.””

Dearly beloved, Genesis 15:13-21 is not some vague palm reader providing sweeping words of future blessing. God spoke very specific to what His plan was for the people of Israel.

God spoke these words to Abraham, words of prophecy, words that were coming true in the story we read today. And, we know the rest of the story and the same vivid detail is how things turn out for Israel.

So, we come to a great fork in the road. How do I know I am doing specifically what it is God wants me to do? How do I know that I am administering the changes God really wants me to make and how can I be assured I am on the right path?

God Provides Affirmation when we are in the Center of His Will

Exodus 3:18-19 “18 Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand.”

God provided Moses and the Elders signs or measures of affirmation to know they were in the center of God’s will for their actions.

Doesn’t it give you a confidence to know that God is omniscient? God is all knowing. And, He knows how things are going to turn out before they ever happen? Notice that God has already formulated a counter measure when fallen man acts outside of His will.

I can not speak for you, but that gives me great confidence knowing that God is still in control when you see the state of our world, our country and the things we are bombarded with on almost a daily basis that does not align with the tenets of God’s teachings. God still accomplishes His will under the most heinous of actions and conditions.

God told Moses and the elders just exactly what to say and how it would be received.

“They will heed your voice.”

Firstly, God told Moses that the Elders would be on board.

As God’s appointed under-shepherd, God will provide His vision for His church to me. But understand an important truth. I am not an autocrat in the process because God will bring about affirmation in the the leadership coming aboard and getting behind the leadership. When a plan is not accepted at large by the church, most times it is not of God. God’s Holy Spirit will guide everyone that what we are being called to do is of God. Amen?

“But I am sure that the King of Egypt will not let you go”

Listen here very closely. What I am going to say is important. I do not want to paint you a primrose path.

As your pastor, I know of several people in our congregation that are on a personal pilgrimage of change in their lives. I want you to hear something important. There will be many around you who see the change God is bringing about in your life and they will affirm you, they will encourage you, they will be your advocate and your greatest cheerleader. The Lord will affirm you by positive things beginning to happen as He helps guide you in the great turn around.

But, do not believe that great change will not come about without collateral damage. Not everyone will get a warm and fuzzy over the changes that are coming about in your life or the life of this church as He chooses to guide us in different direction. Not everyone will be on board.

Exodus 3:19-20 “19 But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.”

We know that Pharoah developed a hardness of heart and was defiant to allowing God’s people to leave. There will be people that are defiant in wanting the old you and people that might even be combative to the change. They do not like what you are becoming. They miss the old you, the sinful you, the person of their past.

1 Corinthians 2:14 “14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

There would ultimately become a wall of separation between Israel and the people of Egypt. You might find that there will be some relationships you must depart in order to stay on track, to stay in the will of God. Certain people are just oil and water to where the Lord wants to take you.

I have found this to be true in church life as well. When God begins to make it clear which way He wants the church to go in doing His will, not everyone will be on board. Not everyone will have buy in and they will be a rub to what God is trying to do. Oh dearly beloved, never it be said you are the rub because the new ways do not meet your fancy.

We read of some harsh judgment that God brought about on the people of Israel because they would not conform to His will for His people.

Numbers 21:4-7 “4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.”

May we never get in the way of what God is wanting to do. Amen?

God Awards our Allegiance to His Will for our Lives

Exodus 3:20-22 “20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. 22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.””

Please say this phrase with me:

If I will do my part, God will do His!

Dearly beloved, if we will answer God’s call-answer by being present and accounted for. I’m in, I’m all in and trust God for the mission He has called you to, understand:

He will provide advocates. God will surround you with encouragers and cheerleaders to overcome the battle you are facing. You are not facing your battles alone. God loves you and He provides His army to battle with you. Amen?

Praise the Lord, He offers affirmation and encouragement when we are doing His will and He will provide clear signs that you are in the center of His will. But note, some of those signs may be hard, but they are signs all the same, God may remove certain people, jobs, relationships, influences that are not supportive in the way that God would have you go.

Thirdly and in closing, God will offer His awards for your allegiance, your steadfastness to staying the course He wants you to travel. You will see blessing after blessing beginning to expose itself as God begins to work in your life.

God told Moses and the elders, when you follow my plan, my will for your life and the life of Israel, firstly, I will be right in the center of everything that is going to happen.

Exodus 3:20 “20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.”

Israel, Moses, if you will trust me, watch me at work. I am going to be front and center providing the change that is called for. Not only will I be front and center, but I will overcome every barrier to you living in the land of milk and honey. Will there be hurdles? Will there be objections? Will there be tensions, struggles, mishaps to getting to the goal, yes, but I already have answers as they come. And so, that is how the Lord works in your life.

He simply wants you to trust Him, seek Him, yes, study Him and find His will for your life, yes. And, I will show all my wonders. God wants to show His amazing wonders in your life. He wants to show you He is God and you are not and you are in desperate need of Him. Every failure, every circumstance you are facing because of poor choices, what seems as the insurmountable, God wants to show His wonders to you.

Notice in closing His final words, “and so you will plunder the Egytians.”

The word plunder-hassala which means to “save, deliver, retain, and take away.”

Interestingly, God told them when they leave Egypt they will be better off than when they got there. You will be taking away their gold and silver. Why is that ?

God doesn’t want us to take our past as a bad memory or to hit the delete button on the computer, but to learn from it. We can not appreciate our riches in Christ until we have reflected upon from whence we came. We can not appreciate good until we reflect upon the bad.

Secondly, God will use your past richly to glorify Him. You have a story someone needs to hear. God will place people with a similar past that you will be able to relate to. God may take your past and enrich you with a passion to help those from whence you came.

COMMUNITY HERO ROOSEVELT ‘YUNRO’ WILLIAMS

A talent for saving lives

Man uses music to reach people around Montgomery

Shannon Heupel Montgomery Advertiser | USA TODAY NETWORK

If you consider unconditional love, philanthropy and selflessness as art forms, list them among the many talents of Roosevelt “YunRo” Williams. He’s used to stages, microphones, audiences, and pouring his heart into his voice as one of Montgomery’s original live music and recording artists. For several years he’s released songs that include, “It Ain’t Easy,” “Street Life,” “Fly,” and “Motivation” — all focused on positivism — and more are on the way.

“The power of music is very significant,” Williams said. “When you put it out there, it attracts. Going from rapping about killing and dope and guns to God using me as a vessel to reach back and speak life into our communities, and motivate people speaking his word, it has been a big change in myself mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually.”

But when it comes to another side of his life as an activist against the city’s violence — with a special interest in saving young lives — Williams prefers action over words.

“Sometimes, you’ve just got to shut up and do the work,” he said.

Williams is the Montgomery Advertiser’s Community Hero for February, an honor sponsored by South University. Friend Rashard Brown said this is a proud moment to see Williams honored for his diligence, hard work and dedication to the community.

“I hope that he continues to grow, and God continues to use him,” Brown said.

YunRo is about much more than music

God used YunRo’s past as a platform for a rich new life.

How about you? God wants to award you with a new life, new riches in serving Him today. Maybe, you are still feeling enslaved to sin? God can free you today.

Let’s pray.